On May 28, Spain, Ireland and Norway joined the 143 States that have already recognized the Palestinian State, thus distancing themselves from the small group of 46 States that do not recognize it, mostly Western and among which three members stand out. … permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the United States, France and the United Kingdom. But what does the recognition of a State imply? What does it mean for Palestine? And for Spain? At a general level, the recognition of a State is a free, discretionary legal act of each State, usually decided by the state government, which can take different forms: implicit or explicit, individual or collective, reciprocal or unilateral.
According to the Institute of International Law, recognition involves the affirmation of “the existence on a given territory of a politically organized human society, independent of any other existing State, capable of observing the prescriptions of International Law” and, therefore, a declaration “to consider it as a member of the international community.”
Although strictly speaking recognition only has legal effects for the recognizing State and the recognized State with regard to issues such as the establishment of full diplomatic relations or the conclusion of bilateral treaties, in practice it facilitates the inclusion of the recognized State in ordinary activity. of the international community. For example, for the ratification of multilateral international treaties, accession to international organizations, participation in political consultation forums and much more.
In any case, the few but important mandatory norms of international law must always be observed. For example, a State that emerged from illicit intervention, as is the case with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, could not be recognized.
Palestine has quasi-universal recognition by States of the international community. It does not have a problem of recognition, but of the elements traditionally accepted to sustain the existence of a State: a territory, a population and a government. This has led critics of this decision to question the effectiveness of the recognition or consider it merely symbolic. However, these considerations do not overcome a contrast with reality. Despite the situation of military occupation and apartheid that Palestine suffers, state recognitions have reinforced its position to the point that in recent years it has been integrated more or less normally into the international community. In other words, it has been acting internationally for several years as other States do.
Thus, since 2011 it has been a full member of UNESCO, since 2012 it has been an observer State of the United Nations and since 2015 it has been a State party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as other important multilateral treaties. In case there were any doubts, 143 States, through the General Assembly Resolution of last May 10, have categorically affirmed that Palestine meets the conditions required to be a member of the United Nations. That is, it is a “peace-loving” State that accepts the obligations of the Charter of Nations and is capable and willing to do so. Today, the only thing preventing it from becoming a full member of the United Nations is the United States veto in the Security Council.
The express and unilateral recognition of Spain represents one more addition to the long list of States that have already recognized the Palestinian State. In this sense, it is not new, not even in the European context: eight EU States have already done it in the past. At a legal level, it will not be decisive nor is it aimed at, nor could it contribute, to stopping the crimes that Israel is committing in Gaza…
The importance of the statement derives from the context in which it occurs. In a scenario in which it is more feasible to foresee the disappearance of Palestine than the destruction of the State of Israel and the two-state solution is more than questioned, the recognition of Palestine represents political support for this path perceived by a large number of States as the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Spanish declaration also represents political support for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority, defenders of the State solution against other Palestinian actors.
For Spain, internally, recognition is not a controversial issue: according to the recent barometer of the Elcano Royal Institute, 78% of citizens consider that European states should now recognize Palestine.
At the international level, it involves risks and opportunities. On the one hand, Spain will have to face the Israeli reaction. In addition to the foreseeable diplomatic measures, we may encounter others that violate the sovereignty of the State or international norms, such as the illicit prohibition of consular services for Palestinians.
On the other hand, the decision projects to the rest of the States, especially the heterogeneous Global South, an image of coherence, of universalism: Spain would support Palestine and Ukraine equally. Beyond the fact that in practice there are great differences in the measures taken and the manifest incoherence if contrasted with Spain’s approach to the issue of the decolonization of Western Sahara, this perception represents one more opportunity for Spain to position itself as a privileged interlocutor. between Latin American and Caribbean States and European and Western States.
*This article was originally published on The Conversation
